BURBANK LEADER

Serving carries Lycee International to league sweep

BURBANK — A lot of practice time for the Lycee International de Los Angeles girls' volleyball team is spent on its serve-receive.

That work paid off in a big way Monday afternoon in an International League match against Aveson Global Leadership Academy.

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The Lions tallied 40 aces and held the Avengers to just one kill in a 25-5, 25-10, 25-8 victory at Olive Recreation Center.

"During our practices, we do spend a lot of time on serve-receive stuff," said LILA coach Leonardo Granato, whose team improved to 7-1 overall and in league. "I know it can get kind of boring for the girls, but it's something that we have to work on. Without passing and serving, you can't really be successful in volleyball.

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"I know I can put just about anybody at the line and they're going to come through serving."

Against Aveson (0-4 overall and in league), Granato went deep in his bench and played all of his reserves, while his top players only saw limited action.

Talia Wizmann had 13 aces. Andrea Nicolav (three kills) added 11 aces and Cynthia Randrianaja had eight. No LILA player had more than three kills.

"We definitely wanted to take advantage of the opportunity we had with our serving today," Wizmann said. "We also wanted to get better as a team today instead of just winning. We really had fun today and we got to see the better part of players who might not get to play as much."

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The Avengers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening set. But that advantage was short-lived, as the Lions went on a 7-0 run. With LILA leading 10-5, the Lions ended the game on a 15-0 run.

In the second set, LILA surged ahead early with a 9-0 run. The Avengers, who scored all their points in the third off Lions unforced errors, could only get as close as seven the rest of the way.

Aveson held a 2-1 lead in the third set before LILA embarked on an 8-0 run. The Avengers cut the deficit to10-5, only to see the Lions end the game on a 15-3 clip.